Building obstacles to be blamed for aircraft overshooting runway

Surat: The narrow escape for 43 passenger onboard the Bhopal-Surat SpiceJet aircraft that overshot the runway on Sunday night is to be blamed on the building height obstacles in the funnel of airport runway.
The pilot flew the aircraft ahead of the displaced runway of 615 metres from Vesu after facing height obstacle and went into the runway end safety area (RESA). Though the passengers and crew members escaped unhurt, the incident could have proved fatal had the aircraft skidded on the runway.
While the issue of the building height obstacles is going on from last two-and-a-half years, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are not making serious efforts to ensure that the problem is solved on a war footing for the safety of passengers.
Sources said that out of the total 42 buildings obstructing the flight path of runway at Surat airport, the AAI has been able to remove the obstacles from five buildings ranging from 0.30 metres to 4.90 metres. However, the AAI is yet to clear the obstacles in the remaining 37 buildings.
Also, the ONGC is yet to find the solution for re-routing or covering the buried sour gas pipeline passing from the airport, which may prove as disastrous at the time of accident at the airport.
Talking with TOI, Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Arun Kumar said, “An inappropriate landing by the pilot and bad weather was responsible for the overshooting of the Spice Jet aircraft at Surat airport. However, our team was rushed to Surat for investigating the incident and responsibility will be fixed later on.”
Kumar added, “The building height obstacles is always a problem, but there are certain flight instructions that the pilots have to follow at the time of landing and take of the aircraft.”